Chapter 6
Chapter Six
King
The sun had long set by the time we pulled the RV to a stop at the campground, meaning I have less than twenty-four hours to complete my task and get Josie out of my hair. I must, as Jim so eloquently put it, try the cake.
Now I just have to hope the cake is amenable, or I can kiss that estate goodbye.
Josie and I have been sitting in silence since we left the mall, but the time for quiet has ended. I need to begin making my move.
I turn in my seat and clear my throat. “Say, Josie . . . perhaps we got off on the wrong foot here. I’ve been thinking—”
“Has the world come to an end?”
“What?”
“From your thinking,” she says as she picks dirt from beneath her nails. “You never were much good at that.”
Do I really need that estate?
But before I can try again, she slides out of the RV and saunters toward the small fire Bennett is currently leaning over. I hurry to catch up with her.
Ice Pick, Rosie, Grim, and Maverick stand nearby. I can only assume everyone else is in their accommodations, which we’ve parked in a sort of safety circle on the other side of the large field Jim rented for tomorrow’s festivities.
Woods surround us on all sides. It’s for the best. Wouldn’t want some looky-loos spotting us murdering Cattle on the morrow.
I smile as I spy the massive school bus Chef Maurice kitted out as a giant kitchen on wheels. He scowls at me from the window and continues with whatever he’s preparing.
“Hey, what town will we cut through next?” Bennett asks as I approach. “I need to have something overnighted to a post box.”
“Tomorrow, we drive until we hit Atlanta,” Josie says. “Then we cut into Tennessee. Probably best to have your package sent there. We’ll stop in Chattanooga.”
Bennett and I turn to look at her.
“What? Jim gave me the full itinerary. Minus the events. What are the events, by the way?”
“Fewer questions,” Bennett says with a flick of his fingers. “Hand me that lighter fluid.”
She blinks at him, then wipes the annoyance off her face with a sweet smile. As she grabs the lighter fluid, I take a step back from the fire.
“Here ya go,” Josie says as she sprays liquid ignition toward the flames.
They burst upward toward Bennett, and he screams and leaps away before he goes up with the flash of light.
“Don’t ever boss me around again, fuckface.” She tosses the bottle of fluid at his feet, then turns and glances past me. “Well, hello.”
I turn and see a stranger standing there.
He’s nearly as tall as me, which puts him around Ezra’s height.
Despite the summer heat, he wears a worn brown jacket.
Road dust covers his clothes, and he looks like he’s been hiking for some time.
A limp paw hangs from the rucksack slung over his shoulder, and it appears feline in nature.
The other men notice at the same time, and we move like a pack of wolves to surround the interloper. I tuck Josie behind me and step closer to the man.
“Something we can help you with?” I ask. I fold my arms over my chest and square my shoulders. “You lost after a jaunt in the woods?”
“I’m meeting a man named Ezra,” he says, and I detect no fear in his tone. He raises a compass and gives it a wiggle. “I followed his directions, and it led me here. Is that one of you?”
“The fuck is in your bag?” Bennett steps closer and flicks the paw with his hand.
The man snatches the rucksack away from Bennett’s curious fingers. “That’s none of your concern, but I didn’t kill it, if that’s what you’re thinking. I found it on the side of the road and plan to give it a proper sendoff.”
“You aren’t going to fuck it, are you?” Josie asks behind me.
All heads turn toward her, and rightfully so.
“What?” She pushes her hands toward the stranger. “Dude shows up with a dead thing in his bag and says he wants to give it a proper sendoff, and that’s where my mind went. Fucking sorry.”
“My name is Samuel, and I memorialize dead things. Is that enough information?”
He’s an odd one, this Samuel, but he seems harmless enough. Hopefully Ezra knows what to do with him.
“Bennett, go and fetch your brother,” I say, and he scurries off.
As one man hurries away from the fire, another man approaches. It’s Jim, and he’s got his bird on his arm and a problem on his tongue. I can see it from here.
“King, you have to help me! I tried to use the toilet in my bus, and it’s overflowing.” He wrings his hands and looks at the small group of people, not even seeing the stranger in our midst. He holds up two fingers with a sheepish sadness. “It was a deux.”
“Kind of in the middle of something.” I motion toward Samuel.
“I can keep an eye on him,” Josie says, and I just bet she can. With a face like his, I bet she’d like to keep a lot more on him than her eyes.
I guess the poor girl never sought help for her little sex addiction. This will be a real problem.
“Jim, I’ll be right with you,” I say. I grab Josie’s arm and start leading her toward our RV. She stumbles a few steps, but I keep her righted. “You will go and have a nice little break in the air conditioning while I deal with this.”
She snatches her arm out of my grasp and stops walking. “Like hell I will! I’m on the road trip whether you like it or not, and I’m here as a fucking guest.”
How cute.
I grab her arm and drag her inside the RV, kicking and screaming the entire way. Her. Not me. I never kick and scream. It’s unbecoming.
Once I have her inside, I slam the door and point to the back of the RV.
She straightens her rumpled shirt, smooths her hair, and pins me with narrowed eyes before spinning on her heel and marching her swaying hips toward the bed.
After turning to face me, she sits on the edge of the mattress and grips the edge.
“Fucking happy?”
“Not quite,” I say.
I move toward the closet and open the door. After digging through the bag of supplies Jim provided, I find a pair of cuffs which aren’t designed for comfort. Spikes line the interior, and I know just how I plan to use them.
Two birds, one fucking stone.
“You still have your little urges, I take it?” I fiddle with the cuffs in the closet so that she can’t see what’s coming. “Killing doesn’t take the edge off anymore?”
“What killing? We’ve seen zero blood this entire trip. And did you plan to help me with my little urges?” She scoffs. “Wait, no. You’ve already used me up, remember? I’m not interesting to you anymore.”
Hmm. Is that what she thinks?
Well, let her think whatever she wants. I won’t set her straight. I can be the villain in her movie so long as we eventually reach the credits.
“Get on your knees on the mattress,” I say as I close the closet door.
She bats her eyelashes and nibbles her lip. “Aw, how cute. Someone wants their dick sucked.”
She sits on her knees, closes her eyes, and opens her mouth. When she sticks out that perfectly pink tongue, I damn near start unfastening my belt. But what I’m about to do isn’t for my enjoyment at all.
I clamp a cuff around her wrist, and her eyes pop open.
“What the fuck is this?”
With a grunt, I snatch the cuff upward and force her to rise.
“Ow, that shit hurts!” She tries to wriggle her cuffed arm, but the spikes stab her skin. “Jesus fuck, dude. I think I’d rather suck your dick.”
I bring the short chain over a bar above the bed, then hook her other wrist within the second cuff. I don’t even realize how close our faces are until it’s too late. She turns her head and starts to panic.
“Cut it out,” she says. “Do whatever the fuck you want but that.”
“I’m not attempting to kiss you,” I say.
She relaxes as much as she can in the cuffs.
“Still phobic about that, eh?” I take a step back and admire her.
We both had our own set of rules back then. I said no getting attached, and she said no kissing. It turned out that I was the only one who knew how to follow rules.
“It’s not a phobia.” She tries to relax her arms, but the spikes poke her again. “I can’t stay like this, King. It’s cruel and unusual. My arms are already tired, and it hasn’t even been two minutes.”
Yes, it’s cruel and unusual and the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She sits on her knees, not quite able to relax her full ass on her feet. Yes, this will do nicely.
“I see the way you look at Blayne. The same way you looked at that stranger,” I say. “You have needs, but those boys don’t know how to satisfy them. You know they don’t.”
She looks up at her wrists. “I dunno, man. I doubt they’d have to drag me away and chain me up.”
“A mere formality.” I step closer and brush the hair from her cheek.
She snatches her face away.
This will be much more difficult than I anticipated. I thought once I spoke softly and flirted a little, she’d calm right down and become putty in my hands. This is more like playing with shards of glass.
How can I convince her to let me in?
“You can’t keep me locked up like this forever,” she says.
Can’t I?
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I give her a smirk as I realize the error of my ways. There is more than one way to get what I want, and I’ve just been going about it wrong. “I can keep you just like this. You can’t worm your way out of those cuffs.”
I turn and start toward the exit. A few hours in those shackles might leave her mood much improved.
But it seems I won’t need hours, as she provides the opening I require with her next breath.
“Stop being such a dick! You can’t fault me for trying to meet my needs with men who might be more available than your closed-off ass.” She grunts, and it’s adorable, really. “Might as well change your name to Captain Cockblock at this rate.”
I allow myself a single smirk before turning to face her with a serious expression. “My dear girl, if release is all you require, why didn’t you say so? I can provide you with that.”
“No strings attached, of course,” she says with a roll of her eyes.
“Were you looking for something with strings?”
“Well . . . no.”
“Then why not allow me to assist you?” I shrug my shoulders. “I wouldn’t mind. We already have a history, and I know what you need.”